Shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico had their best May in nine years, according to data from the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center.
Last week, the center’s Fisheries Statistic Division released monthly landings data for the U.S. states on the Gulf of Mexico. The figures show another strong month for Gulf fishermen as they hauled in nearly 16.3 million pounds of shrimp in May. That represented a 17.5 percent increase over the Gulf’s May average. It also comes on the heels of a strong April report of 4.2 million pounds, which was the second-best April in the last 17 years, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
With the strong May, Gulf landings for 2018 are now almost 10 percent over to-date average since 2002. This year, shrimpers have landed more than 28.1 million pounds. The first five months of the year represents between 13 and 30 percent of the annual harvest, according to the SSA.
Through April, Gulf landings were down by nearly 2.5 percent in 2018.
Louisiana led the way with nearly 10.4 million pounds tallied in May. While that represented an almost two percent increase over the average since 2002, Texas and Alabama reported record hauls.
In Texas, shrimpers brought in more than 3.6 million pounds, a 78.4 percent spike from historical totals. Last year was the only other year since 2002, according to SSA data, that Texas shrimpers brought in more than three million pounds (3.4 million) in May.
Alabama fishermen, meanwhile, netted more than 1.5 million pounds last month. That haul more than tripled the state’s average catch for May since 2002. It’s just the third time in that timeframe that the state has topped the one-million-pound mark for May.
Both Florida’s Gulf Coast (397,000 pounds) and Mississippi (363,000 pounds) reported below average landings. Both states also saw their May landings reduced by more than half of what was caught in May 2017.
Ex-vessel prices for Western Gulf fishermen dropped slightly for U15 from April’s USD 10.07 (EUR 8.63) to USD 9.76 (EUR 8.37). Western Gulf prices for 26-30 dropped USD 0.49 (EUR 0.42) last month to USD 3.98 (EUR 3.41) in May.
Photo courtesy of Galveston Shrimp Company
